They’ll be heading north on Fifth Avenue from 26th Street today, 27,000 strong and many with memories of earlier marches — when the lines were a little straighter, the formations a little tighter and the cadence-counts rhythmic and strong.
The veterans among them were younger, some much younger, when their country called. Off they went, in a confusion of duty and patriotism and pride, and while their individual experiences varied as widely as their service, they had this in common:

They all came home.

Today is their day — Veterans Day — the day the nation has chosen to celebrate their sacrifices.

There are 22.6 million of them — including 1.7 million surviving World War II vets, and the 2.3 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.

…Today is Veterans Day — né Armistice Day — the 11th day of the 11th month, and 95 years distant from the moment when the War to End All Wars shuddered to an exhausted conclusion.

But of course there would be no end to war, and there never will be.

So there will always be veterans: Men and, increasingly, women who will come to harbor in secret places the liberating knowledge that when their country called they — and they alone — answered.